Cats are known for their scratching behavior, which is seen by most cat owners as one of the most unacceptable nuisance in this species. Most cat owners misunderstand this behavior interpreting it as a sole means for controlling the length of their claws. However, cats usually scratch for three reasons: to hone or sharpen their claws, which are the cat's chief offensive and defensive weapons, to stretch and tone their muscles and to mark their territory.
Felines actually have sweat glands in their paw pads and when they scratch against furniture, curtains, wallpaper, corners of upholstered furniture and other objects they are actually depositing their own scent onto those objects. Vertical scratches also leave a visible mark for other cats to see as well as to smell. Thus, there are actually two different marks that cats make when they scratch various objects; a visible marking and an odorous marking.
Currently to rid felines of scratching various objects it is suggested that the feline be trained to scratch in particular areas by providing scratching posts, scratching pads or cat trees. Other alternatives are herbal sprays that repel the felines from objects due to their scent or double-sided tape. Herbal sprays replace the odorous territorial markers left behind by the scratching to discourage repeat scratching in the same place. Since cats' paws are extremely sensitive to touch, using sticky surfaces, such as double-sided tape, is exceptionally annoying to cats so that they avoid touching those surfaces.
Soft plastic nail caps called Softpaws® are also available which should be applied to the claws every 4 to 6 weeks and keep the nails blunt. However, the application of these plastic nail caps is difficult, since they are applied with glue. Usually they are applied by an expert or veterinarian.
Electric carpets are yet another solution. These carpets are placed by the objects that are being scratched and discharge a strong electric volts but weak amperage in the footpads of the cats that walk on them.
Yet another alternative is to dull the cat's claws by trimming their nails as a part of a general routine or declawing the cat. However these solutions are not really recommended by veterinarian's since it may lead to other behavioral problems in cats.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,863 discloses compositions containing an emulsion and a mixture of fatty acids or derivatives thereof and a compound of vegetal origin that has an attractive effect on cats for preventing cats from urinating in a marked spot or to prevent anxiety in cats. These compositions comprise an emulsion of oleic acid, azelaic acid, palmitic acid, pimelic acid and a compound of vegetal origin that has an attractive effect on cats. However, this patent does not solve the problem of preventing cats from scratching on multiple objects.
Thus, there is a need in the art to address the problem of feline's scratching on multiple household and other objects.
It is object of the present invention to provide an alternative treatment for preventing cats to scratch on multiple objects.
It is another object to provide compositions that attract cats to a particular object which the cat can scratch.
It is another object to provide a scratching post that attracts cats and thus prevents them from scratching other multiple objects.
It is yet another object to provide a method of attracting cats to a particular object so that they can scratch that object, while avoiding other objects.
These and other objects are achieved by the present invention as evidenced by the summary of the invention, description of the preferred embodiments and the claims.